StreetWise halfway to goal

April 16, 2009|By James Janega, Tribune reporter

A dire financial situation may have improved Wednesday for StreetWise, the Chicago publication to the homeless, after a series of well-timed donations and funding challenges carried the magazine halfway to the $75,000 total it says it needs to survive.

On Wednesday, the magazine's publishers and board members held a morning news conference to announce that plummeting foundation support meant it could face closing within 45 days unless other sources of income were found.

By the end of the day, donations had reached about $41,000 said StreetWise board vice chairman Pete Kadens -- including a single donation from Jim and Kay Mabie for $20,000 that came with a matching challenge to other potential donors. Another board member, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, also donated $1,000 at the news conference. Smaller donations have been pouring in as the magazine's plight has been publicized.

"Unreal," Kadens said. "I'm on Cloud Nine."

The weekly Chicago magazine was conceived as a way to offer an income to the homeless, but has fallen victim to a hobbled economy, its managers say. Foundation support had made up nearly half of StreetWise's $500,000 budget but is down 60 percent. Ad revenues also are in decline and street sales have dropped 20 percent, publishers say.

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jjanega@tribune.com

Helping the homeless

See a video report on the precarious future of StreetWise and its vendors at chicagotribune.com/wise